Bouts Official for WEC 45

Donald Cerrone and Ed Ratcliff will meet in a headlining lightweight bout at WEC 45 “Cerrone vs. Ratcliff” on Dec. 19 at The Pearl inside The Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, the promotion announced Thursday.

Cerrone and Benson Henderson earned “Fight of the Night” accolades for their five-round interim lightweight championship bout at WEC 43 on Oct. 10 in San Antonio. Henderson took a debated unanimous decision and the defeat was only Cerrone’s second in 13 career bouts. The Greg Jackson-trained fighter has collected key victories over WEC vets Rob McCullough and Anthony Njokuani.

Ratcliff has won three of his four WEC appearances, including a unanimous decision victory against Phil Cardella at WEC 42 last August. Ratcliff, who trains with Brandon Vera and Dominick Cruz at the Alliance MMA gym in Chula Vista, Calif., has only one loss on his docket -- a first-round submission to Marcus Hicks from March 2008.

“As soon as my manager said Donald’s name I said ‘Let’s do it,’” said Ratcliff in a press release. “He didn’t even have to finish the sentence. My fight with Donald has the potential to be a war and I can’t wait.”

Former IFL standout Chris Horodecki will also make his promotional debut against Anthony Njokuani in a co-main lightweight bout.

The 22-year-old Horodecki had an impressive run in the IFL, winning eight of his nine bouts. Horodecki submitted William Sriyapai with a first-round rear-naked choke at Fight Force International “Ultimate Chaos” last June.

Njokuani has won two of his three bouts since joining the WEC ranks. He was submitted by Benson Henderson at WEC 38 in January, but finished off Bart Palaszewski and Muhsin Corbbrey with second-round strikes at his return engagements at WEC 40 and WEC 43 this year. The pair of bouts earned Njokuani “Knockout of the Night” honors both times.

Meanwhile, Joseph Benavidez and Rani Yahya will face off in a featured bantamweight bout.

Benavidez, a well-rounded wrestler who trains with former WEC champ Urijah Faber, will look to rebound from a unanimous decision loss to Dominick Cruz at WEC 42 last August.

“This is an important fight for me,” said Benavidez. “There’s no doubt that I’m hungry and want to prove a point in this bout. Yahya is an awesome grappler, but I think I’m the better all-around fighter.”

Yahya, an Abu Dhabi World Submission Grappling champion, has submitted his last three opponents in the WEC cage.